An investigation of the conditions surrounding HIV/AIDS among adolescents at Kwasomkhele, Mtubatuba: a case study

Abstract:

The KwaSomkhele Reserve, the rural area of Mtubatuba has had a noticeable increase of adolescents who got infected with HI-Virus in the area in recent years. Hence, the researcher became interested to investigate the conditions leading to increased HIV infections amongst adolescents. The reasons for the continued increase of HIV infections regardless of massive campaigns that were conducted in their area were investigated.
To give meaning to the objectives of the study, the sampling of 200 adolescents was targeted as participants in the initial stages of the research which included both school children and out of school adolescents. Availability sampling was chosen for this study. It is a method of choosing subjects who are available to find. The primary advantage of this method is that it is easy to carry out, relatively to other methods. Availability sampling is a non-probability sampling. The subjects in the non-probability sampling are also selected conveniently for the ease of data and it entails lower costs (Othman et al, 2013:133). However, due to the challenges that were experienced with the Department of Education in terms of the protocols to be followed, only 100 out of school youth as participants were interviewed. It was discovered that the adolescents of KwaSomkhele were aware of HIV/AIDS through HIV/AIDS programs that had been conducted by different government departments in their area, but most of them chose to ignore the information given to them.
Conclusions were drawn and recommendations were made based on the objectives of the study and theories that were used. The researcher has learnt that adolescents are the most vulnerable group in our society because they are faced with the critical transition of moving from puberty stage to adulthood. That transition sometimes forced them to take
uninformed decisions and engaged in reckless and risky behaviors which could sometimes lead some of them to be infected by HI-Virus. As a solution to that, the researcher suggests the involvement of stakeholders in providing the necessary support and promoting good and acceptable behaviors by adolescents.

Description:

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Sociology at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2015